tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72251273969576863592018-03-05T16:20:32.032+00:00Marvin SparksI'm not a blogger, I just blog a lot!Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.comBlogger708125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-21722114984258858492018-01-28T12:49:00.002+00:002018-01-28T12:49:46.716+00:00A win for Damian Marley is another L for Reggae Grammy Yeah, i said it. Damian Marley does not deserve to win the best Reggae Grammy. Everyone’s sitting on the fence, not me. It’s cut and dry to me.
I’d have bet my last penny he will win if I were a betting man. In fact, I’ve been calling Stony Hill a Grammy-winning album since he finally announced the release date. The much-delayed album, pushed back maybe three times, “conveniently” dropped Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-7992876964662687322016-10-06T18:58:00.000+01:002016-10-09T11:07:04.236+01:00Top 10 Biggest Dancehall Tunes of 2016 - FactPeople go on about how dead dancehall is, like no one cares for it, but when you consider these people lack major industry experience and resources, these numbers are pretty healthy. Dancehall has always been a hit industry. Hit songs and shows. Talking about sales in this day and age is pretty dead.
A problem is people compare dancehall success to hip hop and r&b. Why compare music from a placeMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-545322923247601592016-08-24T21:48:00.000+01:002016-08-24T21:50:33.401+01:00Why Hasn't Jamaica Had A One Dance?For anyone who doesn't know, Drake - One Dance was number 1 in UK for 14 weeks and 10 week in US. It topped the charts in 16 countries. Drake is known as a hip hop artist but he dabbles in other styles of music such as dancehall, r&b and afrobeats. One Dance is a dancehall song which samples a UK funky classic and features afrobeats superstar, Wizkid.
Truth is, if a Jamaican dancehall artist Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-1882269038149671032016-04-16T14:16:00.001+01:002016-04-21T13:17:36.419+01:00So, Jamaican Music Is Currently Dominating UK Pop Chart Based on official UK top 100 singles chart week commencing 15th April
1. Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla
Don't listen to the afrobeats or UK funky claims, Drake made a dancehall song with elements of the aforementioned. But I addressed that in the 'Mis-Appreciation of Jamaican Culture' post.
2. Sia feat. Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills
Sidenote: Song declined by Rihanna
5. Zara Larrson - Lush Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-87739331877379664342016-04-16T13:29:00.002+01:002016-04-16T14:22:56.494+01:00(feat. Sean Paul) [the 2016 edition]. The Songs Them So FarSo, Craig David and Kano are having renaissance moments in the UK. "feat. Sean Paul" is also having a bit of a revival. 13 years (yes thirteen years) on from his grand entrance into the mainstream market with the unstoppable dance floor smash "Gimme di Liiight".
Obviously, it was followed up by the US #1 "Get Busy", "Like Glue" and "I'm Still in Love With You " but in and amongst all of that, Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-66817862403635984072016-04-08T21:37:00.000+01:002016-04-08T21:48:43.022+01:00The Mis-Appreciation of Jamaican CultureNow I know I'm using mis-appreciation in the wrong context but you're just gonna have to see with me and basically deal with it. I like the title and the sense it makes in my head more than I care about my colonial tongue. This is why I love speaking slang. They stole my language so I'm misusing theirs. Seems like a fair trade to me which is more than can be said for the slave trade...
There Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-60700281970877606582016-03-14T13:01:00.002+00:002016-03-14T18:54:06.233+00:00Jamaican/Bashment Music Banned In Croydon? We Are In 2016, Right?The headline on the Croydon Advertiser read like something I'd have expected happened until the 90s at the very latest:
Exclusive: Police accused of racial profiling after ban on 'unacceptable' Jamaican music https://t.co/zue8UD85ft pic.twitter.com/hwdARMrt7C
— Croydon Advertiser (@CroydonAd) March 11, 2016
How is that even allowed in this day and age? A type of music that's commonly Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-14140434240827285952016-03-09T12:54:00.000+00:002016-03-12T12:40:13.350+00:00Kano 'Made In The Manor' review = album I needed to hearThis is a good old-fashioned long read. I don't care about the ideal word count limit or ISO. Optimum anything can sxck ya mam. Man's 'ere to express, uzimi? If you don't want to know what I think of the singles, skim from here to the next bold. Bold onwards is about the album tracks.
In an era where it felt like everyone was trying to make "universal" stuff that sounded/ripped off American Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-51850391655301488002015-12-27T17:37:00.000+00:002016-01-30T13:24:38.139+00:00World a Reggae and Bashment Influence 2015By now, you may have read the best of Jamaican music awards, plus the 20 top reggae and bashment songs of 2015. Now is time for the round up of Jamaican music's influence outside of the core music. How reggae and bashment was either used or influence UK, US, South American, African music and more in 2015.
Lethal Bizzle kicked this year right off with the heavy basslined bashment banger, Fester Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-84382425527471501362015-12-21T16:31:00.000+00:002016-01-08T20:36:57.516+00:0020 top reggae & bashment bangers fi da year ya - 2015 editionThis ain't in a particular order because how innit? And to be fair, its the first 20 songs that spring to mind. That's gotta be a good way to tell. I think anyway. And it ain't factual, its just my opinion. There will be a lot of songs I like that aren't on here so yeah, wul dis.
I did an awards ceremony you can check here but this one is a way to share the song's I rated. The world a reggae andMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-54528418799206267442015-12-20T19:38:00.001+00:002016-02-26T10:08:40.980+00:00Best of Jamaican Music Awards 2015So anyway, I always think of dancehall and reggae as summer to summer. If a riddim didn't run summer, it doesn't qualify for a release that year. This stems back to going to Jamaica every year for Independence weekend. And Jamaican music sounds so much better in the lead up to and in the summer, anyway.
I've had this in my drafts since about October and held out posting it just to see if Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-24853276242699747092015-11-23T14:34:00.000+00:002015-11-24T11:42:00.115+00:00Why Justin Bieber's bashment song hitting no. 1 is bittersweet So, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've been fully hoping for Justin Bieber 'Sorry' to hit number 1 in the UK (it's number 1 song in the world on Spotify too). I was fully annoyed Adele released 'Hello' because it was a sure fire number 1. Well, four weeks into its release it finally reached the summit of UK's best selling singles - without an official video (the online dance video of Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-13007743802591734972015-11-15T10:40:00.003+00:002015-11-15T15:07:25.118+00:00What reggae's first Radio 1 playlist in ten years tells me about reggae. Big up ProtojeOnce again, I'd like to say mainstream approval is not the be all and end all, however it provides a very important cog in getting my favourite artists the ears they deserve. If a reggae song has the quality and steam to go forward and benefit from the exposure a national radio station, the biggest radio station UK can give, why shouldn't it be taken advantage of? As long as they hold their Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-13762353738362052872015-11-13T16:43:00.000+00:002015-11-18T22:53:00.664+00:00What Lean On's Spotify record-break tells me about dancehall So, it was announced that Major Lazer 'Lean On' broke the record for most played song in Spotify's history. Small feat in that it's only one platform, but massive feat in that its still the most played song ever on a huge platform.
But what does this mean? Well, what I get from it is confirmation of something I've always known. A dancehall song can rule the world.
I'm by no means calling this Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-21722413787784338462015-11-05T16:26:00.000+00:002016-02-26T10:51:12.585+00:00I imagined telling these artists, "mate, you're doing it wrong"This is just a flush of thoughts. Dunno if it'll make sense in the end but its just a flush.
We're calling this one, know your role. I'm gonna talk about over-hyped artists and artists who need to do certain things to be better, in my opinion.
First up it's Chris Brown. The guy's one of the most all-round talents in the higher echelon's of popular music. He can dance, emotive voice and has a Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-70242664842338839192015-10-14T12:30:00.000+01:002015-10-16T19:00:05.779+01:00no long talk with Assassin/Agent Sasco | Underhyped Legend?no long talk with Assassin aka Agent Sasco. After the long two-parter with Kabaka Pyramid, this is a very short one in comparison.
I can tell by his style that he has a true school dancehall foundation with hip hop style lyricism so I wanted to know about his sound system beginnings. Also, we speak about growing up in a one room, board house (house made with board) with his family and lessons Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-58972490624785125252015-10-11T20:27:00.001+01:002015-10-12T20:38:15.321+01:00no long talk. x Kabaka Pyramid | The artist's artistPart 1 was about the person. I called it Uptown Top Rasta. This side is more about the music.
We speak being "the artist's artist" of the movement, reason for pursuing reggae over hip hop, friend dying helped him push on, thoughts on hip hop and dancehall's current low and frustrations at having to dumb down his music.
Also, reggae revival's "uptown" stigma, uptown youths making downtown music,Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-49561839183833588182015-09-23T12:42:00.003+01:002015-10-13T23:52:18.306+01:00no long talk. with Kabaka Pyramid | Uptown Top Rasta [ep. 001] So as I pointed out the other day, "no long talk." is the new vibrations from the Marvin Sparks camp. First one out the box is Kabaka Pyramid. If you are familiar with the artist, you know he's one of the best lyricists in Jamaica, well-respected by his peers, deals with truths and rights, highlights western hypocrisy and has in-depth knowledge to back his passionate rebel music.
He, along Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-84310787821206912092015-09-18T18:32:00.002+01:002015-09-23T19:17:04.106+01:00Remember: "UK dont support each other"?/"We don't need US to rate us" part 2This is for those who said "We dont support each other in the UK" and the "We don't need US to rate us" crews. You lot don't know what youre talking about.This is inspired by them.
But anyway, while the essence of the "We don't need US" statement is truth, it isn't wholly. Reason being, the fassies amongst us ("us" being those who believe the statement to be true) wouldn't be shouting about it Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-42102005399758178872015-09-14T19:50:00.001+01:002015-09-14T19:50:14.768+01:00That time I was #HalfCastHalfCast is the strongest podcast when it comes to chatting about things from our surroundings and perspective; be it music, entertainment or social issues and relationships, Chuckie Online and Poet are opinionated. I find myself agreeing with one or the other depending on the issue which is always a good thing. Sometimes one is right, other times you agree with another guy. And sometimes they'reMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-53412099700177783482015-07-17T00:03:00.001+01:002015-08-10T22:12:49.846+01:00How Shaggy became first Dancehall artist to score UK hits in THREE separate decadesI don't think any other living Jamaican artist has scored a hit in every decade since first entering the UK charts with chart-topper "Oh Carolina". While Shaggy's career began in New York, he scored his first ever hit in the UK. We buss him. There definitely hasn't been one from a dancehall background. This is something worth shouting about, and if I don't do it, who will? Ay?
Quick side: theMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-51456061340394910002015-07-16T15:39:00.001+01:002015-07-16T19:20:50.471+01:00About Chronixx Somerset House show: this is NOT a reviewSo basically, I went to Chronixx's show at the prestigious Somerset House on Sunday. Had the time of my life again. Decided I'm not gonna write a review on Monday because what else is there to say? I've seen him five times (six if you include the time babylon locked off proceedings cos of curfew in Jamaica. Seven if you include his appearance at Rebel Salute) and been impressed every time. How doMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-33425720362699306002015-07-13T21:48:00.002+01:002016-07-22T13:52:44.642+01:00FAO JA music: Don't go chasing CheerleaderSo what I'm saying is, I know the success of "Cheerleader" by Omi is a major deal, but please, please, please, learn the right lessons from it. I noticed people only started cheering it on when it first touched the US charts despite it topping charts in 17 countries before. Typical, but very problematic issue that's happening in Jamaican media and filters to Jamaican music makers.
Nobody seemsMarvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-51832787391371653172015-06-28T20:39:00.001+01:002015-06-28T20:44:45.049+01:00Then why doesn't everyone know UK loves reggae?A compilation called Dancehall Reggae Anthems was released the other day, topping the iTunes album chart for four of the seven days in week of release and entered the official UK compilation chart at number 3. Of course, I was on hand to give daily updates - obviously. But then certain responses made me think: why do people make say "Yeah, but…" and "It's only because of…" type responses when Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225127396957686359.post-3659422513714655532015-05-30T14:15:00.000+01:002015-05-31T12:49:22.019+01:00Cool? Wtf is "cool? Tell cool I said "your mum"Funniest things you learn in life. Especially on Twitter where you can see opinions from people outside your social circle. In most cases, they're people you'll never meet so big up the internet.
I was listening to a podcast (Vlad TV with Lord Jamar and Star) after I listened to the latest Combat Jack (Jamillah Larrieux). As we know, the whole "system is designed to keep the black man down" is Marvin Sparkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877983978674561743noreply@blogger.com0